3 Ways to Apply Change Management For Regulatory Compliance Standards

Complying with regulatory standards is a growing priority for businesses in diverse fields. As organizations become more dependent on IT, they have run into a situation where protecting data is becoming more difficult. This has led to stricter and more complex regulatory guidelines, which in turn has forced businesses to scramble as they try to keep up. Change management platforms can help companies establish the processes, procedures and management capabilities needed to respond to new regulatory challenges.

Using Change Management to Improve SecurityRegulatory guidelines are, in the end, about protecting sensitive data. It can be easy to get so distracted in the specific nuances of auditing and understanding the specifics of the laws that you forget that improving security is the end goal. Change management solutions can help organizations eliminate the human error and unintended consequences that come into play during IT changes. Many data loss incidents are caused because of vulnerabilities created by a change or a simple mistake.

Improving precision and oversight is critical when trying to eliminate change-related errors, and a good change management platform will allow you to improve in both of these areas without sacrificing operational efficiency.

Keeping Users in Their Proper PlaceMany regulatory laws mandate that certain data sets be kept private from different types of users. For example, IT workers managing health care data need to fine tune their processes and technology configuration so that there is no chance of them viewing personal medical records. A good change management platform will feature scheduling tools, dashboards built around specific user roles, collaboration technologies and other solutions that allow managers to easily segregate their different user groups based on the data they are authorized to view.

Establishing a clear divide between different users isn't just about complying with regulatory standards, it also protects your workers from being exposed to potential legal problems if they accidentally view information they shouldn't. Furthermore, effective user segregation strategies can protect against insider threats, one of the most difficult security challenges businesses face.

Watching Over Your OperationsBusinesses trying to comply with regulatory standards need to carefully observe their own day-to-day operations to make sure they are following industry guidelines and capable of enforcing their policies. This often boils down to two key issues - tracking processes and performing self audits.

Tracking change processes is tricky. You need to have a system in place that automatically identifies when users complete different tasks and documents these operations without direct user input. You cannot reasonably ask all of your IT and support workers to manually enter information about all of the processes they complete. Instead, you need to have automation scripts in place that handle this for your employees, and a good change management platform can meet this need.

These process tracking capabilities also come into play when you want to perform self audits. Having documented records of different change processes makes it much easier to audit operations and make sure users are following designated operational guidelines. The result is a situation in which you can be prepared when a certified auditor shows up to explore your organization, as you should already have a clear idea of how you are complying with applicable regulations.

Increased dependence on IT operations has put a renewed focus on regulatory compliance in a variety of industries. These are just a few of the big picture ways that change management can help you comply with industry guidelines. In the end, change management gives you more control and visibility into change tasks. At the same time, it minimizes risk. As such, you can improve your organization's ability to meet regulatory laws without excess complexity.

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